


The Law of the Universe

by kontrapunkto



Category: X-Men (Movies), X-Men - All Media Types, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Charles is a proton, Chemistry geekery FTW, Crack, Erik is a possessive electron, Geek Love, Geeky, Hank is a Deuterium Atom, M/M, Raven is the Carbon Atom that Dresses Up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-29
Updated: 2011-10-29
Packaged: 2017-10-25 01:39:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/270304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kontrapunkto/pseuds/kontrapunkto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The kinkmeme prompt that I wrote it for says it best. Erik is an electron and Charles is a proton, but because Charles attracts other electrons, Erik fights them off with his magnetic powers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Law of the Universe

**Author's Note:**

> I saw this prompt at 1stclass_kink while dying under boatloads of Organic Chemistry and had to fill it. Thank you to everyone who commented at the original post - you all made my day, and I finally decided to de-anon. If anyone wants, I'll provide a brief explanation of the scientific terms used here. Just ask.
> 
> P.S. Thank you, kind anon, who corrected some of my chemistry!

Erik is a free radical. The rogues of the electron world. They're never stable; they operate by themselves; they steal electrons from other atoms at will (and they don't even have the decency to steal electrons in pairs - oh no - they'll steal half a pair of electrons, thus causing even more havoc with the atoms they attack). Free radicals like Erik are the reason that people are getting cancer, because when free radicals hover around the ozone layer, they chip off ozone molecule after ozone molecule without a break, allowing more radiation to hit the earth and the people on it. They're ruthless, and they're killers.

Erik thinks that it's a description that fits him very well.

Until he gets sucked into the pathetic little 1s orbital of a H+ atom.

A H+ ion, to be precise.

A H+ cation, to be perfectly precise.

But Charles, Charles likes him. Charles can't stop talking about Erik's charge, Erik's speed and Erik's amazing ability to dodge all sorts of atomic debris. Charles gets sad when Erik leaves the orbital and pleads with him for it to be only 1% of the time. "A 1s electron should be in the 1s orbital region 99% of the time, Erik!"

"I hate staying within a sphere."

But one day, when Erik is planning to zoom off and cause some havoc with the ozone for a while, he suddenly finds himself reconsidering his plans, because there are other electrons.

Other electrons, hovering near his orbital, hovering near _Charles._

Erik zooms around viciously, bumping into them, repelling them with his equally negative charge until they're all gone.

Or rather, until they hover a safe distance away. (No place can ever be truly void of electrons, save a vacuum, and Erik would hate to be in a vacuum. It's too boring.)

From that day onwards, he stays close to Charles. If he feels like letting more radiation hit the Earth's surface, well, then, he just convinces Charles to take a trip with him up to the ozone layer. Charles likes to see the world - to meet other fellow atoms. Charles is intrigued by isotopes, isomers, stereochemistry and regiochemistry and spends hours talking to a Deuterium atom called Hank. Then there is that carbon atom that is forever turning up with different 'accessories' in the form of fellow atoms and charges. She calls herself Raven. Charles loves her in a wholly platonic way. Erik, privately, thinks that Mystique is a better name. And well, on their travels, if any electrons think about getting a little too near the 1s orbital, Erik will just attack them. No one is allowed to be in his orbital.

Yes, he has come to think of Charles' 1s orbital as his own. Not that he will ever admit it to Charles. He thinks Mystique knows, however.

("Don't worry, Erik, none of the atoms in my molecule will ever release their electrons to Charles," she assures him.)

Charles thinks that Erik's protectiveness is adorable.

Charles stops associating the word 'adorable' with Erik the first time he and Erik actually touch.

Positive charges are attracted to negative charges.

Opposites attract.

It's the law of the universe, down to the subatomic level.

"It's magnetic," says Erik.

"No, my friend," says Charles.

"It's groovy."

  


**Author's Note:**

> There is fanart for this fic! What is this guys, I can't even I love everyone here.
> 
> By waterylt @ LJ - http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltfh1zdpdl1qd7a2yo1_500.jpg  
> By folha5eca @ LJ - http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltfmn6vB1R1qip6kbo1_500.jpg


End file.
